Thanks maybe I'll jump start my metabolism and produce a HOT one some day!


I sense a disturbance in the force....I perceive that Tint will astound us all rather soon....?....



TS

Hi Tech Stuff and Tint,

Loved the video. You obviously went to a lot of trouble to make your plywood Goliath. Your style and the delicious swish of yor sling intrigue me. Do you always shoot like that? I am always astounded by how many different ways this simple weapon can be used.

I also have no doubt the story of David and Goliath is accurate, not only because of my personal faith, but because there is nothing in the story which is at all unbelievable. It has no great "miracles" or extraordinary phenomena, just a highly skilled slinger killing another man with a sling, a feat which has been done both before and after perhaps millions of times during human history. There are many of us on the forum who would be able to sling with sufficient power to do the job. BUT consistent accuracy especially under stress of battle is another matter. It's one thing to shoot at a stationary target, quite another to hit a giant who is moving quickly towards you and screaming that he is going to cut you to shreds. What I think is amazing is that David had the faith and courage, dare I say arrogance, to face so formidable a foe.

All the characters in the story show normal human weaknesses. David's older brothers are angry at their interfering little brat of a brother, Saul anguishes over a hopeless situation, the unconquerable Goliath obviously enjoys the adulation of his own men and the fear he inspires in the Israelites; he basks in the limelight for a whole month! Even David's motives are hardly entirely altruistic. He's going to be famous, marry into the king's family and get tax relief for his family. If the writer was interested in fabricating a fantastic story about God's favourite, he surely would have painted him with rosier colours.

The only thing that I find amazing about the whole thing is that Goliath exposed himself so completely to David's attack. The only conclusion I can come to is that he, and perhaps all military men of the time, were unaware of the sling's potential as a weapon.

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Who's to say for sure.....put yourself in David's shoes.  He trusts that Yahweh will help him fight a loud mouthed oppressor who insults his nation and his God.  I doubt that David needed any more incentive than that.....and I say he probably felt guilty for taking as long as he did, to ice the giant.  I think it's fair to say that the 'hardly entirely altruistic part' reared its ugly head after fame was thrust upon him.


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Thanks.....yes, I guess my swish IS delicious, now that I view the video more closely!  (totally kidding)


Ok, 98% kidding.


This Goliath is hardly my first,  I've used various versions of him over the years.  This is the first 'full color' production, however, and was originally produced to attract attention to our booth at an outdoor festival last year.  I've found that, for me personally, any rotation beyond that which is necessary to put the stone out at an adequate velocity seems to distract me at times.  However, I've no doubt that Yurek, with his multi-windup would split a plywood noggin, no problem!  I use several other styles depending on circumstance, but what is shown has been my mainstay for decades.  

When and if the time is right, perhaps a handful of us are prepared to take the next logical step in the, as yet uncompleted, journey of the sling.  There is much space left for the sling to grow.....time of course, may be another matter entirely.


TS

Watch Digging for the Truth.  The subject really has nothing to do with whether you are Christian or not.  David was a Jew.  The "Legendary" story is recorded in the Tora (Jewish Bible) and the Christian Testaments.  Whether or not it's true is a matter of personal preference.  It's a neat story either way.

Certainly, Goliath was an anomoly at 9 and one half feet tall, but it is explainable.  Certainly the Sling is a very old weapon and who better could use it than a shepard.  So both issues are believable to me.  But it has nothing to do with your religion and not all Christians, Jews or Muslims believe everything they read...and that's a fact.

I would take it for what it is.  A very interesting, possibly true story.  I can tell you one thing for sure.  It doesn't matter whether Goliath was 9 feet tall or only seven.  If you hit him between the eyes with a good rock he's probably going to die.

Da Guap

In comparison with a modern soldier: Who, btw, carries a BASIC load of ammo. of x rounds.

so too...

David: a lone, slinger/shepard/pimple-faced, teenager, carrying a "basic load" for the job ahead of him--5 projectiles.  As he and his adversary approached each other to within, sure-fire, killing distance, who knows, perhaps when the inspiration or  bravado or national pride or religious ferver of the moment pushed him forward into battle, while all the others stood back and threw curses at each other, he only had time to grab what he in the time allowed, selected the best ammo locally available.  But, in his case, as cronicled, only needed one stone, the fateful, lucky, and some would say G_d directed shot.

The story has credence due to the extreme frailty of the human body...beside, even if the stone merely knocked the big guy unconscious, what really did him in is when the jewish kid cleaved his head from his body.  Army axiom:  Kill the head and the body will die.

I choose to be an atheist in the last stages of my life as I earlier pondered why so many wars were and still are fought in his name.  Rediculous and wasteful.

Oh, I agree, C_A.  That story is about 3000 year old, give or take ... easily embellished, and for all we know, young David may have been one of many slingers on the Hebrew's side, all of them chucking rocks, and as luck would have it, Davey hits the jackpot, so naturally he's hoisted onto their shoulders and becomes the hero of the moment, like any football forward kicking that crucial goal during the world-cup.  Because of his success, his side wins by default, and he instantly turns into a politician.  <zap> or is it <shazam!>  Yeah, make it shazam, because, zap sounds too much like a mosquito zapper.   

cheers,

Exactly, Dravonk.  All we have is the bible.  No other historic or military journal exists for corroboration which would tell us the length and depth of the battle line, or how or where the various troops were disposed upon that battle line.  Or how many troops were participating...how many had spears or swords or slings.  The fog of war in those times was indeed alot foggyer, a mix-mash of ideas.  We each have solutions and plausibility in our own minds-eye of how it went down.

As regards the "believability" of ancient written sources, it has gone both ways.  Nonsense has been accepted as fact.  Fact has been dismissed as nonsense.  It has more to do with the prejudices (in a strict sense of that word) of the reader, than with the veracity of the writings.

As an example, some Greek writer mentioned a marvelous mechanical device  built by, I think, Poseidonius.  This used to be dismissed as nonsense, because it was common knowledge that the Greeks were good at philosophy, but had no mechanical aptitude whatsoever (and in fact, regarded actually doing an experiment as something that no good Greek would stoop to).  Then some sponge divers discovered a wreck near the island of Antikythera, wherein was found the remains of a 

marvelous device

.  The device has been studied and partially reconstructed, and it is a clockwork simulation of the solar system.  It is something that any modern clockmaker would take pride in, and it (along with some other discoveries) completely upset our prejudices concerning the ancient Greeks.